The Gentleman Pirate leading a ragtag crew at the heart of Our Flag Means Death is based on a real historical figure. Stede Bonnet gave up his wealthy lifestyle to take to the high seas, where his success wasn’t immediate. In bringing this character to life for the series, actor Rhys Darby and creator David Jenkins got to update and flesh out the story. The result is a relatable, likable pirate with a sense of wonder that carries Our Flag Means Death.
Ahead of the show’s premiere, creator David Jenkins and star Rhys Darby gave an exclusive interview to CBR about finding this strange and exciting character. The pair talked about the historical inspiration for the Gentleman Pirate and how Darby was the perfect person for the role. They also dove into whether any crew can be entirely likable and workshopped just the right words to describe the quirky group of pirates.
CBR: Where did the idea for Our Flag Means Death come from? How did you decide to tell this story?
David Jenkins: My wife heard about Stede Bonnet from somebody. She is very smart and she said, “You should read about this guy because this would make a good TV show.” I just went to the Wikipedia page and was like… Immediately, this man blows up his life to become a pirate, abandons his family, is not good at pirating, gets stabbed pretty quickly, [and] then befriends Blackbeard, the best pirate. It doesn’t… I mean, already, that’s pretty good story structure. So that was great. Then [I was] just trying to figure out why did he leave his wife? He said he was uncomfortable in a married state and he was being nagged. Automatically, you’re like, “What’d you do? What’d you do in the marriage? How’d you fuck it up? I need to know…” Filling in those gaps to me was like, “Oh, yeah, this is why you make the show.”
Was that a hard sell? Were people on board for figuring out the gaps in Stede Bonnet’s story?
Jenkins: Well, if it were just me, it would be a hard sell. When you come with Taika Waititi, people want to buy your show, I’ve learned. So they were on board. People were very on board. [They] liked my take on it and [the] ideas that Taika and I were talking about. It all came together really quickly.
Taika is not the only draw in this show. Rhys Darby, you’re also a big name in comedy. I’d love to hear how you got involved in this project.
Rhys Darby: David eventually asked me. I knew… It was on the radar when it came out and that Taika was involved. I thought, “Oh, this will be hilarious. What is this about?” So I looked up Stede Bonnet and sure enough, there was a real guy. The real story was there. I didn’t really think anything of it after that. I just knew I was definitely gonna watch it, no matter what. This is exciting — who’s done a pirate TV series before? I don’t think anyone, not that I can recall it. I did question, “Why not? Why wouldn’t you do this?” Then of course it’s because it’s horrendous being out at sea on a boat and trying to film. It can’t be done.
Jenkins: It’s a bad idea.
Darby: Yeah, bad idea. So I was like, “What are you thinking?” Then David eventually got ahold of me and said, “Well, would you like to have a go reading for this? I can’t get you out of my head when I think of the guy.” [laughs] I don’t know whether that’s a good thing or not.
Jenkins: No, you were the only choice. There were other people, a small amount of auditions. When you see… Other really good actors read for this from London, who were just fantastic. Then you’d see the words come out of their mouth, and you’d be like, “I hate this character.”
Darby: That’s the key. You had to be likable.
Jenkins: You bring a certain amount of wonder with you that makes this character [so that] I can get behind him. [It’s] so hard to get behind a midlife crisis, especially when this person hurt his family. So you were the only choice.
Darby: It’s an odd hero. Thank you, thank you. When I discovered more about him, I could relate to him. Not the leaving the wife and kids part, but the adventure part. The risk part of just throwing everything away, blinkers on, which is what I did as a young adult. [I] just left New Zealand, went straight to Scotland, jumped in the biggest fringe festival in the world with over 600 shows, and just jumped up on stage and went, “Ah, look at me! I can do it!”
Then it was risk after risk. There’s no money. Money didn’t come for so many years. I was on the bones of my ass, [but it] didn’t matter because [of] my dream. My dream was the vision. The opposite story with [Stede] — so much money, but [he] still had that vision and that dream to throw everything to the wind. So I could relate to that. Then it was just how do I lead people with charm and nothing else? That’s pretty much all I have. So yeah, there’s some relatables there. I have more skills than Stede, though! I did a sailing course.
Jenkins: Yeah, you were in the military. You have proper skills. You’d be employed.
Darby: So was he!
Jenkins: Yeah, that’s true. That is true. He was. Wow, you are this person.
Darby: I think I’m him, re-born
It was perfect casting, clearly.
Jenkins: I will say that I didn’t feel like… I felt like I met Rhys a couple of times, making the show. The rest of the time I felt like I was working with Stede Bonnet because of the amount of… You make it look very easy, Rhys, but the amount of work that you put into it, and how seriously you took it — it was really amazing. Whenever you were around it was like, “Oh, Stede’s here. Okay, Stede’s in the room.”
Darby: Well, thank you. As soon as I put those garments on, man, I am that guy. I mean, it’s hard not to be.
They are some garments, too.
Jenkins: Christine Wada. Christine Wada [was our] incredible costume designer. Just an incredible effort. When you do a period show, you’re doing… If you do a crowd scene, it’s a crowd scene in period clothes with wigs. It’s not just [that] you have a bunch of background players. To do that, on the schedule that we had — unreal. An absolutely phenomenal costume team.
Another thing that the show has going for it is just a huge crew of talented and very quirky individuals. What was it like to be part of this ensemble of pirates?
Darby: It was fantastic. It was like a gang. They were from various parts — a lot from England. I think the ragtag team all complemented each other. There wasn’t a bad biscuit in the bunch, I think. We often looked for it! We tried to poke it out because it’s like, “One of us must…”
Jenkins: Who’s the asshole? Which one of us is the asshole?
Darby: That’s the thing! There was no asshole. We thought there would be. Then I started to think maybe I’m the asshole!
Jenkins: Yeah, if someone can’t find the asshole, it’s me. I knew it.
Darby: In the end, we just said it was David.
Jenkins: Yeah, I took it… It’s weird. I couldn’t find the asshole either. It’s definitely me.
Darby: Wait, are we the assholes? Anyway, it was one of those things where it was just so lovely. Everyone really got on board for this. They knew it was an epic journey and you had to bring your A-game as soon as you saw the set. The pirate ship was just detailed so perfectly, and it rocked [while we] were on it.
Jenkins: You could hear the rigging moving while it rocked.
Darby: You could! These chaps had come all the way from the UK and what have you. They made a huge journey as well, so the pressure was on. I think there were so many parallels to the story in real life. None of us really knew each other. The pirates all got to meet each other for the first time. I’m the leader and they weren’t sure of me. I was slightly different to them and that was weird. There’s a whole bunch of different accents, which is just real and fantastic. So yeah — the cast couldn’t be less of a challenge for each other than ever. Is that a sentence?
Jenkins: Yeah, that counts.
Darby: Couldn’t be less challenging!
I think it definitely got there, for sure.
Darby: Forever! Ever is so challenging, because it goes forever. There’s no end to it.
Jenkins: It makes sense. It makes sense.
Darby: I’m gonna write that down, actually. I might use it again. [mimes writing the sentence down]
Jenkins: Good. Smart. We could actually use that in the show.
Darby: “…challenging forever. Never less of a challenge forever.”
Jenkins: Good. Then a period.
Darby: Good. Just get that… Put that up on the board actually, thank you. [mimes handing the written sentence off]
Jenkins: The cast gelled really fast, which was really…
Darby: Yeah.
Jenkins: They became a crew fast.
Darby: We fit into our roles, weirdly, like we were supposed to be there. Like Samba [Schutte], who’s the cook — he’s an amazing chef in real life.
Jenkins: That was a total fluke!
Darby: That’s weird, right?
Jenkins: It’s so weird. It’s very weird.
Darby: He’s also a surgeon, and I don’t think he’s got any of those sorts of surgeons skills, but then back in those times, you didn’t need them!
There’s still time!
Jenkins: Exactly. That’s good.
Catch the fictional adventures of the real-life wanna-be pirate in Our Flag Means Death, premiering March 3 on HBO Max.
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